The Five Keys To Personal Sovereignty

The rolling hills set against a crystal blue sky make me think of home. Not the flat, sandy landscape with the distant promise of a beach that I’ve called home for more than a year. No, the gently undulating dips and peaks of Uruguay remind me of the hilly vistas I grew up with in Kentucky. In both places, the drive out of the city into the countryside greets you with swaths of land dotted with grazing cows, farms with acres of neat rows of produce waiting to be harvested, grapevines snaking up hills and interspersed amongst it all are forests, standing cool and shadowy in the afternoon sun.

When I left you yesterday, the attendees of the Offshore Investment Summit were preparing to leave for lunch at the Alto de la Ballena winery where they were able to sample local wines and pick grapes fresh from the vine.

While the delicious aroma of meat cooking on a parilla filled the air, they learned about the wineries of Uruguay. After lunch, the attendees continued to Cerro Pan de Azucar Valley for a visit to a soybean farm just a couple weeks away from harvest.

The peaceful atmosphere and beautiful scenery make it difficult to remember that this isn’t just a relaxing vacation, but a research expedition to help prepare you for the continued deterioration of the place we’ve called home all our lives.

Back at the sessions in the beautiful Conrad Hotel in Punta del Este, our experts are looking beyond Uruguay today to opportunities in Europe and rare tangible assets that too many people forget when diversifying wealth…

Your Guide to the Slide

Offshore and asset protection expert Ted Baumann kicked off today’s presentations as he took a closer look at the state of America today. He stated that we are seeing inequality on multiple levels, the collapse of faith in our government and the loss of liberty; he also named a few ways to change this through conventional means. Our government no longer reflects our will at some levels, but it is creating more space for the government to act autonomously.

But you’re not without hope. There are steps you can take to be truly sovereign. In fact, Ted provided five keys to personal sovereignty:

1. Think critically and often — don’t believe everything you hear. Do your own due diligence.
2. Don’t rely on politicians or grand theories.
3. Know your adversaries (it’s not just the government).
4. Arm yourself appropriately (not just guns… you need the knowledge).
5. Have a Plan B.

With these five keys in mind, sovereign individuals are taking action by protecting their privacy from intrusion, using wealth preservation and diversification strategies such as offshore trusts and private placement policies, and looking into overseas residence opportunities that are part of a successful Plan B.

Diversify and Grow Your Wealth

In terms of financial privacy and protection, one country consistently rises to the top of the pack: Switzerland. Rob Vrijhof, President of WHVP Ltd, a Swiss portfolio-management service, spoke to attendees today about another way of protecting your financial freedom through diversifying some of your wealth in Switzerland.

He advised attendees to take about 20% to 50% of their wealth and diversify in Switzerland. In fact, Switzerland and WHVP offer a one-stop shop where you can do everything through just one account. WHVP can manage the entire account, set up an IRA outside the U.S., offer variable annuities and allow you to diversify your wealth in a number of foreign currencies. Rob also provided his outlook on the future of gold.

A Better Return Than the Stock Market

Maybe you’ve already taken the advice of some of our experts: You’ve spread your wealth around to several investment vehicles such as stocks, fixed income, gold, silver and even a few currencies, in case the dollar’s run higher comes crashing to a halt. Are you done?

Not yet.

Geoff Anandappa, Investment Portfolio Manager for Stanley Gibbons of London, showed that stamps have returned significantly better than the U.S. stock market per year, rare stamps averaging approximately 9% to 10% each year. In fact, both stamps and rare coins see excellent value growth regardless of what’s happening in the stock market, because the market is driven by collectors and not by what’s happening in the global economy.

If you’re looking to add some exposure to an investment that isn’t going to move to the whims of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and Putin, Stanley Gibbons has a special service that allows you to build a portfolio of stamps, coins and/or rare documents that is specifically tailored to each person. What’s more, there are no management or storage fees, and they offer free valuation each year and free insurance.

House Hunting in Punta del Este

All the valuable nuggets of information are pouring in faster than I can get them down on the page. Attendees are breaking for lunch now and then heading out with Sancho Santayana of 360 Terra International Realty to take a tour of Punta del Este. He will be showing everyone the real estate market, including several properties that are interesting investment opportunities.

Now I’m hoping to provide you with some great pictures in tomorrow’s Sovereign Investor Daily, but if you’d like to see more of the tour, you can order your copy of the Offshore Investment Blueprint now. This special kit not only provides video of all the presentations with the inside tips and tricks from our experts, but there is also video of both the farm tour and today’s real estate tour.

We have only one more day of the conference. Tomorrow we will hear from an American expat living in Uruguay about what it takes to establish a second residence and much more.

Author: The Sovereign InvestorThe Sovereign Investor Daily delivers timely and actionable information to succeed in any market. We realize that a world of investment opportunity exists in stocks, commodities, currencies and asset protection that are often overlooked. Our mission is to bring them to you each day.